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20 June, 2008

A South Wales Police helicopter crew recently pursued a UFO that almost collided with their aircraft. The incident occurred at RAF St. Athan, a military base little more than thirty miles away from my home. The police pilot had to bank sharply to avoid a collision with the object. The three experienced crew members described the object as 'flying saucer-shaped'. The UFO is said to have aimed straight for their Eurocopter EC135T21 at great speed from below. The incident happened at 0040, June 8th 2008, as the helicopter crew hovered at 500 ft, awaiting clearance to land.

Some reports suggest the crew pursued the object to the North Devon coast, when they ran low on fuel and had to return to base. Cardiff International Airport confirmed that its air traffic control assisted the police helicopter by guaranteeing it appropriate air space, as well as clearing it to return to RAF St Athan to refuel. However, South Wales Police say the crew did not pursue the UFO, which vanished over the Bristol Channel, between South Wales and North Devon. A South Wales Police spokesman said:

"We can confirm the Air Support Unit sighted an unusual aircraft. This was reported to the relevant authorities for their investigation ... They are convinced it was a UFO. It sounds far-fetched, but they know what they saw... The crew are very experienced and responded in a professional manner in relation to what they saw. In today's skies, there are a wide variety of aircrafts which come in a range of different shapes and sizes and in all probability, this sighting has just confirmed that one of these was in the area at the relevant time".

The Ministry of Defence denies it has received a report of any such incident, their spokesman adding: "... it is certainly not advisable for police helicopters to go chasing what they think are UFOs".

Interestingly, a Cardiff pensioner reported seeing something "peculiar with lots of flashing lights", at around 16.20 on the same day. Mr. George Withrington, a resident of St Mellons, reported the sighting to his local police. They assigned his report an incident number. The ex-RAF man was reading in his garden, when the incident occurred. Mr. Withrington said:

"I was looking at an aeroplane overhead when I spotted this thing was in the corner of my eye ... It shifted direction very quickly, in the blink of an eye ... I looked at it for quite a while, I was watching it for at least 10 minutes. It flew off towards the east, towards Newport."

I find this report very worrying. Not only did the object appear to deliberately target a police helicopter, but RAF St. Athan is so close to Cardiff International Airport that, a few years ago, a civilian pilot mistook the base's runway for the airport runway, and almost landed his passenger jet at St. Athan.

I'm also intrigued by the discrepancies in the reports. Did the police chase the object or not? They say no. The airport's account of giving air traffic assistance to the helicopter suggests the crew did pursue the object. Also, the police spokesman says the incident 'was reported to the relevant authorities for their investigation'. Yet the MoD says it knows nothing of the incident. Is this because the report is caught up in a bureaucratic tangle of paperwork? Is the MoD being evasive? Or are UFO incidents reported to 'relevant authorities' other than the MoD these days?

Despite these concerns, the fact remains that a highly experienced police air support crew has reported a flying disc behaving in an aggressive manner, over a military base. The incident also occurred very close to a busy civilian airport. Of course, this does not make the UFO of alien origin. But someone was controlling it, and its behaviour could have cost lives. The only other thing I have to say about this incident is that I have a panoramic view over the Bristol Channel from my living room window. I'm kicking myself that I didn't happen to be looking out at the time.

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